Pompeii was a bustling Roman town inhabited by more than one hundred thousand people with its temples, three and even four storey apartment buildings, lavish villas, shops, theatres now frozen in time.
The ancient town was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Pompeii has been a tourist destination for over 250 years. Today it has UNESCO World Heritage site status and is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors every year.
